Fasting is 0 calories, regardless of where they come from. Fasting while intaking calories is called eating.
2. Are longer fasts best for insulin resistance?
The only thing that is best for insulin resistance is stable and steady blood glucose. That is the only way to regain proper blood glucose regulation, which would in turn cause the proper release/expression of insulin and break the resistance.
Fasting for long periods increases your time in hypoglycemia which is not stable and steady blood glucose so you are perpetuating further insulin resistance.
This is why the longer the fast, the less the benefits. Daily fasts should only be between 12 - 18 hours and no fast should be longer than 72 consecutive hours, once a week.
3. Many people have great health benefits the longer they fast.
This is because in the short term they are completely unaware of the long term damage. As far as "significant health benefits" are concerned, tell them to detail exactly what those benefits are.
The reality is that these people simply get high off their own stress response and then claim that's a health benefit. Or they completely lose their hunger from a drop in leptin expression and claim that's a health benefit. Maybe their immune system is halted and so their auto immune disease symptoms become temporarily better and they claim that's a health benefit. People talk out of their behinds while online. Don't be duped.
Many of the people who make these ambiguous claims, on low carb pages, are running "fasting coaching" classes and so they present themselves as their own satisfied customer in hopes you will click on them "for more information". Be very leery of BS.
Instead of guiding yourself by some fool online, guide yourself by what is truly known about how metabolism works and the research has been consistent:
- Short fasts are hormetic.
- Long fasts are damaging.
But don't take my word for it, or the hundreds of published study papers on this, just believe your own eyes. After all, some people have to see it to believe it. The longest fasters on Facebook are the fattest and getting fatter everyday. And all those obesity resistant fasters you see out there, tell them to contact you again in about two years time.
4. Blood glucose will rise during short fasts. When you eat again you might feel hypoglycemic but this is normal and it means you need longer fasts.
Your goal should be correcting your metabolic function, not your ability to fast. Fasting will not make you healthier. A functioning metabolism will.
The symptoms you are having are caused by an adverse reaction to fasting because of an exaggerated stress response. This is indicative of poor insulin release/expression.
Until you are able to normalize your blood glucose, so that insulin follows suit, you will not be able to fast comfortably or in a healthy manner. Right now, fasting is only making your condition worse.
5. A five day fast is "intermittent fasting".
There are no hard line descriptions for what constitutes "intermittent fasting" or "extended fasting". After all, all of this fasting stuff is a farce so there are no clear rules. The rules are basically made up as you go along and so are the terms used to describe each fast. Every fasting "guru" makes up their own definitions and writes their own fasting "Bible".
Low carb doctors will never correct this because they can hide behind these ambiguous terms, legally. The longer you fast, the more money they make. Longer fasts mean you will need their coaching and support so you are more willing to give them clicks, views and even join their Patreon pages or paid programs. You will also be more willing to buy their "fasting aids". Longer fasts also mean that you will see immediate "results" in "scale weight". The loss of water weight causes the scale to go down rapidly and this legitimizes their protocols. Happy customers will make recommendations to their friends. In other words, it's all a scam. Then when you gain weight again, they will find a way to blame you for it because they certainly can't blame their snake oil.
On this blog, we define intermittent fasting as any fast that is 72 consecutive hours or less. Period. Anything beyond that is not intermittent fasting. The recommendation for 72 hours is based on studies researching the effects of starvation on metabolism and not just a number I pulled out of my behind. Nothing good occurs after 72 hours. This is why we reserve 72 hour fasts for the morbidly obese and only once a week since the vast majority of people benefit just fine from 12 - 18 hour daily fasts. If they don't, extending the fast won't make a bit of difference.
6. If intermittent fasting is not working, you need to fast longer.
My response is the same as above.
Let me be clear on something that a lot of people don't seem to understand or don't want to. If a 12 - 18 hour daily fast does not improve your metabolic function, no other length of fast will. Re-read that sentence a few times until it sinks in.
Fasting and low carb are sort of like aspirin. If the recommended dose of aspirin is not taking away your pain, taking the whole bottle won't help. You would require a completely different intervention, all together, because the maximum dose of aspirin is the maximum limit of whatever benefits it can provide you. Anything beyond that is detrimental. Taking an entire bottle of aspirin is going to put you in the hospital, not resolve your pain.
The same goes for fasting and low carb in general. Fasting more will not solve the problem. Cutting more carbs will not solve the problem. Doubling down on anything, will not solve the problem. You need to find solutions to the problem, not do more of what's not working.
If intermittent fasting is not producing benefits and you are actually consistently following a legitimate fasting protocol and your dietary protocol is also correct, then stop fasting. Shorten your fast to the absolute minimum you should do a day, which is a 12 hour fast. After all, you are forced to fast at some point regardless because you can't chew and swallow while you sleep. I recommend a 12 hour fast where the majority of it will be spent sleeping.
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